Edo guber: Imansuangbon drags Akpata to A’Court over LP’s nomination

• APC candidate unprepared for leadership, says Mayaki
A former governorship aspirant of the Labour Party (LP), Kenneth Imansuangbon, at the weekend, dragged the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the forthcoming Edo State election, Olumide Akpata, to the Court of Appeal, apparently dissatisfied with the judgments of a Benin High Court and Federal High Court, Abuja, respectively.

Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) joined in the suit before the appellate court.

Recall that Justice Babatunde Quadri of the High Court in Benin and Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had dismissed Imansuangbon’s applications on July 15 and 22, 2024, respectively.

Justice Quadri declared, in his ruling, that Imansuangbon’s lawsuit was premature and without substantial evidence to support its claims.

The court, therefore, upheld Akpata’s position as the LP’s gubernatorial candidate for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.

But in a notice before the appellate court, Abuja, with suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/472/2024, Imansuangbon stated: “The learned trial judge erred in law and arrived at a perverse decision, occasioning a miscarriage of justice to the plaintiff/appellant when he dismissed the plaintiff/appellant’s suit on the strength of the 1st Defendant/Respondent’s contention in his preliminary objection at the lower court.

“That the suit was statute-barred, without considering Section 285(13A) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (fifth alteration) act, (No. 10), 2023, to which the attention of the lower court was drawn at the hearing of the suit.”

A CHIEFTAIN of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Mayaki, has described the standard bearer of his party, Monday Okpebholo, who is standing for the Edo State September 21 governorship election, as unprepared for the leadership role.

Mayaki said: “Every time Monday Okpebholo speaks, he shows he’s unprepared, and too uninformed to be governor of Edo State.”

He stated that as a member of the party, he has no regrets about giving his support to another party’s candidate, Dr. AsueIghodalo. His words: “I have no regrets. I am proud to stand for a competent Ighodalo and against an unprepared, uninformed, and unqualified candidate for the APC.